REEL PERSPECTIVE
by Joyne Lavides
Part 1
The streets of downtown Toronto will once again ablaze with spectacle and buzz with excitement come September 4th until the 14th, 2025. This Ontario film capital will roll out the brightest red carpet to welcome filmmakers, actors, industry professionals, and press people from around the world. Though these luminaries will come together to showcase their works, they will bear witness to Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) 50th anniversary celebration. Such irresistible transformation of the largest city in Canada during this ten-day period certainly sets a glimmering stage for a festive occasion that undeniably lures everyone to participate in.
Each year in September, a handful of Filipino filmmakers whose works are featured at TIFF cross the Pacific ocean to attend the festival. In turn, the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto team up with some Filipino Canadians to host the presence of these filmmakers. Such warm reception emanates from an underlying tradition and culture that is ingrained in every Filipino emigrant. Every ounce of hospitality pervading in the city evokes a sense of duty befitting for this kind of event.
This year, TIFF50 is imbued with a lustrous golden theme, one that symbolizes a treasured milestone. As a writer and film enthusiast, this signals an opportune time to dovetail my own personal homage through my writing. While contemplating in awe with such an extensive list, I took the liberty of writing in parts in order to cover the list in its entirety. What a pleasure indeed to cite the outstanding list of Filipino filmmakers who made their way to TIFF within the last fifty years.
To date, a total of 108 Filipino films were selected and screened at TIFF since 1976. It was during the 12th Festival of Festivals in 1987 that brought the largest number of Filipino representation, showcasing the following
films: “Ina, Kapatid, Anak” by Lino Brocka; “Kakaba-kaba Ka Ba?” by Mike de Leon; “Himala” by Ishmael Bernal; “Init Sa Magdamag” by Laurice Guillen; “Karnal” by Marilou Diaz-Abaya; “Manila by Night” by Ishmael Bernal; “Playgirl” by Mel Chionglo; “Bulaklak sa City Jail” by Mario O’Hara; “Biyaya ng Lupa” by Manuel Silos; and “Hari sa Hari, Lahi sa Lahi” by Eddie Romero. These films were all featured under TIFF’s “Eastern Horizons” Programme.
Historically, it is not an easy route for any film to be included in the TIFF selection. Each year, every film submission goes through a rigorous process before being selected and included in the final list. In 1981, for instance, not a single entry from the Philippines was shown at TIFF. In 1983 and 1986, only one entry was chosen for each year. Thus, every Filipino film that has already set foot on the silver screen of Canadian cinema deserves a de rigueur appreciation.
TIFF was founded during the ‘70s era when Philippine Cinema was at the height of its Second Golden Age. The iconicity of three formidable Filipino directors who generated this glorious period in the Philippines ought to be attributed correspondingly in steering an excellent presence of Filipino
movies at TIFF. The late National Artist for Film, Director Lino Brocka; the living legend Director, Writer, Cinematographer, and Producer, Mike de Leon; and the late National Artist for Cinema, Director, and Writer, Ishmael Bernal. These three directors comprise the unparalleled triumvirate of avant-garde pioneers in Philippine Cinema. Each and every filmography they have produced had set the bar so high, undoubtedly motivating future filmmakers to follow the same path.
The first Filipino film that was officially selected for screening at TIFF was “Jaguar” by the influential and multi-awarded Director Lino Brocka. It was part of the “Critic’s Choice” in 1980. It was screened again in 1981; and then in 1985, it was part of “10 to watch” films. Brocka stands out among the list of all Filipino directors who made it to TIFF. He is the only one whose works were featured more than once in any programme within the last 50 years.
Brocka’s film, “Insiang” was the only Filipino movie selected under TIFF’s Contemporary World Cinema in 1983. In 1985, it was featured again, this
time, in “10 to Watch”. The film was also part of “Tribute: The Story of David Overbey” in 1999. Overbey was a film critic and TIFF’s Film Programmer since 1977 who advocated for the new Asian cinema before he passed on in 1998. In 2016, “Insiang” was screened at TIFF Bell Lightbox as part of the “Restored!” series. While this film is regarded by some critics as Brocka’s greatest film, TIFF’s consistent inclusion of “Insiang’ over the years somehow validates the film’s eventual distinction.
“Bona”, a Brocka timeless classic, was selected for the Critic’s Choice in 1982, “10 to Watch” in 1985 during the 10th Festival of Festivals, and in 2024, its restored version was included in “TIFF Classics”. Another Brocka masterpiece with exemplar Director Mike de Leon at the helm as cinematographer and producer is the pièce de ré·sis·tance film, “Maynila sa Kuko ng Liwanag”, which was part of “10 to Watch” in 1985. Almost three decades later, it was screened again via TIFF Cinematheque in 2013. Brocka’s gripping film, “Kapit sa Patalim-Bayan Ko,” was part of “10 to Watch” in 1985, and “Dialogues: Talking with Pictures” in 2008.
Other notable Brocka films screened at TIFF were: “Macho Dancer” in 1988; “Ora pro nobis” in 1989; and “Gumapang ka sa Lusak”, his last film before his untimely demise in 1991.
Another esteemed and multi-awarded cineaste in this so-called Second Golden Age of Philippine Cinema is the living Director and Writer Mike de Leon. His two eloquent and award-winning tour de force oeuvres, “Batch ’81” and “Kisapmata,” were the second set of films featured on TIFF’s Critic’s Choice in 1982. De Leon sets the record as the first Filipino director with two equally compelling films that were screened at the same time, in the same programme, and in the same year. His highly-praised satirical and musical comedy film, “Kakabakaba Ka Ba?” was featured under the Eastern Horizons in 1987. Another De Leon’s opus featured at TIFF was entitled “Aliwan Paradise”. This film was part of a four-country anthology, “Southern Winds,” interwoven with the works of filmmakers from Indonesia, Thailand, and Japan. Southern Winds was part of TIFF’s Asian Horizons Programme in 1993.
The third Filipino director in this triumvirate of Philippine Cinema Greats during the Second Golden Age is the multi-awarded social realist Director
and Writer Ishmael Bernal. One of his powerful feminist films, “Relasyon,” was part of TIFF’s Contemporary World Cinema in 1985. In 1987, two of Bernal’s prodigious and masterly films, “Himala” and “Manila By Night” were both featured under TIFF’s Eastern Horizons Programme. This made Bernal the second director after Director Mike De Leon with two masterpieces featured side by side in the same year and in the same programme.
In-between the works of Brocka, De Leon, and Bernal shown at TIFF, lies “Salome”, a film by Laurice Guillen. She is the first Filipina director featured in the Contemporary World Cinema Programme during the 9th Festival of Festivals in 1984. Interestingly, Guillen’s film preceded that of Bernal’s work which was shown a year later.
The other film featured in 1984 under the Contemporary World Cinema was “Misteryo sa Tuwa” by Abbo Q. de la Cruz. In 1986, there was only one Filipino film selected: “Father Balweg, Rebel Priest,” by Tikoy Aguiluz, under the Documentary Programme. “Birds of Prey” by Gil Portes was shown in 1988 under the Contemporary World Cinema; and “Itanong Mo sa Buwan” by Chito S. Rono, also under the Contemporary World Cinema in 1989.
After showing their films in movie theatres in Manila, these Filipino filmmakers persevere in lugging their masterpieces to Toronto cinemas in order to reach a wider scope of moviegoers. With each work they bring, an overfamiliar Filipino story is boldly highlighted that may seem replete yet valuable in diffusing consciousness about a nation. More often than not, each film selected is embedded with societal ills that give rise to the recurrent struggles sustained by its people. Mulling over these films that have reached its North American destination, it is long overdue to acclaim the extraordinary contribution of these filmmakers, both to Canadian and international cinemas. They have now permanently etched their names with their movies in the annals of TIFF.
From the Second Golden age of Philippine Cinema to the Golden Age of TIFF, we salute all Filipino directors, writers, actors, and producers whose cinematic brilliance continue to serve as a powerful conduit in conveying vivid stories about the Philippines. Underneath their prominence lies a
hallmark of virtuoso bolstered with a strength of character and a pliable spirit. They have wrestled arduously in every obstacle along the tumultuous pathway in order to stay true to their creative vision. Thanks to the unbounded dedication, firm resolve, and unceasing artistry of Lino Brocka, Mike De Leon, and Ishmael Bernal, their cinematic eminence and profound legacy have trailblazed a lucid direction for the next batch of Filipino filmmakers towards creating their own dent at TIFF.
To reflect on Brocka’s words: …
“they will never be able to destroy what made you an artist in the first place – your brave and continuing dedication to the human race.” ###
(to be continued as Part 2 in the next issue)